2020 - The 2020 Review
w/e 27 December 2020
All of this week's
pictures were taken with a Kodak DX6490
At the turn of the year I usually look back over
the previous twelve months and summarise places we've been to
and events we have seen. I approached the task this year with
more than a little trepidation knowing that regular events in
the calendar had forcibly been cancelled due to the coronavirus
pandemic. The Good Friday Walk of Witness, the Carnival, the
Charter Fair, the Lakeside Festival, the Remembrance Day Service,
the switching on of the Christmas lights and many more all fell
victim to the restrictions to say nothing of the regular events
at the Erewash Museum that couldn't take place this year. I also
knew that on more than one occasion during the year I had been
forced to delve into the archives to select previously taken
images to guarantee the regular weekly update. So it was a surprise
when I started to review the images from this year that hadn't
previously been used on the website that there were still well
over a thousand which I've sifted through to use on this page.
We started 2020 with a walk through the town centre on New Year's
Day. Little did we know then that the deserted streets, closed
shops and empty roads were a sign of things to come when lockdown
was introduced.
It was also in January that we took our regular annual winter
trip to Wollaton for a walk through the Deer Park but this time
we caught a bus and approached the Park by walking through the
village before exiting further on to catch another bus home.
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With the absence of events during the year local parks and beauty
spots were to become often visited places and in February as
well as Shipley Country Park and Osborne's Pond (above left)
we also went to Bramcote Hills Park as the snowdrops were coming
out and followed a Walking for Health route through Ilkeston
that took in Victoria Park. February in the UK was the wettest
on record and near the end of the month I took a look at some
of the flood waters in the Erewash Valley at Trowell and near
the Bennerley Viaduct (above right).
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The first national lockdown was introduced in March but before
it took hold we were back in Victoria Park among the spring flowers
that were starting to come through. We also walked to Trowell
and back along the disused Nottingham Canal following this up
with another walk through Cossall Village. Events in the early
part of the year are few and far between anyway so there was
nothing unusual so far in our photo shoots. With the summer still
to come we were hoping that the virus would soon have passed
and planned events would still take place. How wrong we were!
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By April we were advised to stay at home, only go out for essential
shopping or daily exercise. This meant we spent a lot of time
at home, in the garden and going to the shops was usually in
the car with the return straight back home. It also meant several
dips into the archives for photos to share from earlier outings
where we found pictures from places like Chatsworth. One outing
into the town centre did give me the opportunity to capture a
bird and her young in a precarious perch on the Cantelupe Centre
showing that despite the restrictions, life in the natural world
goes on.
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The 75th Anniversary celebrations for VE Day that were planned
for May were another of the events that had to be scaled back
but that didn't deter people decorating their homes and streets
whilst all the while maintaining their social distancing. By
May, queuing (inset left) had become a way of life but social
distancing when passing on the canal towpaths proved a problem
as more and more people took to using these routes for their
daily exercise.
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As lockdown restrictions were eased in June we took our first
"longer" walk to Victoria Park when it hit us just
how much the relative inactivity since March had impacted our
fitness. It's taking a long while to regain that fitness but
it was in June that we ventured further that we had in the previous
three or four months to enjoy a stroll around Elvaston Country
Park and admire the topiary among other gardens in the grounds.
Another outing took us to a little corner of Belper but the rest
of the time was spent in Ilkeston where the summer flowers were
starting to bloom.
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All our work in the garden in the early stages of lockdown came
to fruition during the summer months and we had some lovely displays
in the beds, tubs, pots and hanging baskets. These are some of
them from July.
Government advice in August suggested open air locations and
parks were safer places to be so our photo taking outings were
to places like St Chad's Water at Church Wilne, Darley Park at
Derby, Belper's Riverside Gardens and of course Victoria Park
in Ilkeston.
Now in September the Autumn Footprints Walking Festival usually
enables me to take hundreds of photos across Erewash and Amber
Valley. That of course like everything else fell by the wayside
so with no let up in the pandemic, that meant another delve into
the archives for what became a virtual Festival. At the end of
the month however, we did manage a visit to Sawley's Conservation
Area close to the River Derwent where, in addition to a look
at some of the old buildings, we were also treated to views along
the river towards the distant Ratcliffe on Soar Power Station.
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Think of October and you think of the Charter Fair but once again
that involved archive photos for another virtual event. The rest
of the month was spent looking at autumn colours first at Kimberley
Hall Om Wong park and then in Ilkeston. This shot shows the Rutland
Sports Park (The Rec) from Oakwell Drive,
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There was little let up from the virus during November and Remembrance
Day services were scaled right back. On Armistice Day a few people
did gather on the Market Place for a short commemoration and
the numbers were swelled by toddlers from the nearby Cantelupe
Centre. Photos for the website came from a couple of walks along
the Erewash and Nottingham Canals (the Top Cut Loop) and a wander
around the lake at Kirk Hallam. Regular annual events as Advent
and Christmas approached were non-existent.
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And so we reached December. Plans made for Christmas had to be
fluid as government guidelines, rules, laws and restrictions
changed and the pandemic was still with us. Shopkeepers and individuals
decorated their premises and homes and Christmas lights twinkled
although these things happened without much ceremony. Christmas
was still celebrated - but differently. It was good to see one
tradition that did continue as Ilkeston Brass were seen outside
the Albion Centre on Christmas Eve playing carols - socially
distanced of course.
As we look forward to 2021 I would normally say that Ilkeston
Cam would be covering the same things again, the Festivals, the
Fair, the Carnival, the walks through towns and villages and
in the surrounding parks, gardens and countryside. This year,
that's what I hope and pray for and with a vaccine on the horizon,
that may be a possibility but at this moment in time, it's still
just a hope. Whatever 2021 holds for us is still an unknown -
as it is every year - but my fervent hope is that 2021 will be
for all of us a
HAPPY NEW YEAR.
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